Safety appliance for railway trains



April 7, 1925. I 1,532,119 E. w. BOULDEN ET AL SAFETY APPLIANCE. FOR RAILWAY TRAINS Filed April 7. 1924 I f E////4\\\ M INVEN A TTORNEYS'.

Patented Apr. 7, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD W. BOULDEN ANF CHARLES J. COWLES, 0F SIOUX CITY, IOWA.

SAFETYAIPPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY TRAINS.

application filed. April 7, 1924. Serial No. 704,765.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it knownthat we, EDWARD W. BOUL- DEN and CHARLES J. CowLns, citizens of the United States, and residents of Sioux City, in the county of lVoodbury and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Appliances for Railway Trains, of which the following is a specification. I

Our invention relates to automotive safety appliances for railway trains, and has for its object to provide an automatic air-brake operating mechanism for applying the brakes on the various cars of a train, the mechanism being actuated when the train has proceeded past a block signal when the signal is in position to give the warning that another section of the train is stopped ahead.

More particularly, it is our object to pro vide mechanism actuated by the arms of a block semaphore to be interposed in the path of a lever carried by the locomotive, or one of the cars of the train, for actuating valve in the air line.

A further object is to provide such a de vice in which mechanism is provided for locking the valve in open position after the device has been actuated.

A still further object is to provide means for recording the number of times. a train has proceeded through a block without heeding the signal. I

With these and other objects in view, our invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of our device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in our claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: i

Fig. 1 is a sectional View through a portion of a railway track, illustrating a locomotive thereon, to which our inventeion is attached, and showing the semaphore and actuating mechanism attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 is adetail sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a detailsectional view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a view of a sealing'strip which may be used in connection with our inventlon.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view of the air storage tank, a portion of the air line to the brakes, and a portion of our invention installed.

It is well known that many railway accidents have occurred as a result of the failure of an engineer to notice or to heed a block signal. It is very easy on a foggy or cloudy night for an engineer to get close enough to the rear end of a train stopped ahead of himbefore he sees it so, that he will not be able to avoid crashing into it. Under the same conditions it is very easy for an engineer to fail to see the block signal itself when he passes it. If he does pass the signal without seeing it, it is very easy, if he is going at. any speed at all, to get so close to a train'ahead that he will not be able to stop in time. 7

Our invention is designed to automatically apply the air brakes when a block signal is passed, which has been moved to position to give the warning signal to stop. lVe have shown at 10 a section of track,

on which is carried the locomotive, 11, having a cab, 12, extending out over the wheels, 13. The locomotive has the air supply tank,

14, shown in Fig. 8, connected by a suitable connecting pipe, 15, to the air line, 16, to which the air brake mechanisms are attached through the connecting pipes, 17. The" engineer ordinarilycontrols the brakes r In order to support the shut, 21, the

brackets, A and B are provided, which are fixed to the underneath portion of the cab floor, as shown. Each bracket, A and B, has a circular disk portion, 22, at its .center :and the shaft, 21, is extended through the center thereof. Pins, 23, are fixed in the shaft, 21, so as to bear against the disk portions, 22, and the bearing plates, 24, are provided which are bolted to the disk portions, 22, by means of the bolts, 25. The

pins, are received between the disk portions, and the bearing plates, 2%., and any desired amount of pressure may be obtained against the pins by adjusting the nuts on the bolts, 25.

The lower end of the shaft, 21, is bent laterally to form a lever, 26, which is extended outwardly away from the cam, 1-2, shown in Fig. 1. We provide a trigger, 27, which is pivoted to the post, 28, alongside the track, and which is adapted to be swung by suitable mechanism into position where it will obstruct the path of the lever, 26, as the train passes the post, 28. This position is shown in Fig. 1. The trigger, 27, may be lowered to position where it will not engage the lever, 26.

The ordinary .sen'iaphore used in the block system is shown in Fig. 1, andcomprises a post, 29, on which are mounted the arms, 30 and 31; the arm, 30, is the red arm, which, when in the downward position shown in Fig. 1, gives the stop signal. hen the arm, 30, is down, the arm, 81, is up, as shown, and when the arm, 31, is down, the arm, 30, is up. We provide the cables, 32 and 33, which are fixed to the arms, 30 and 31, respectively, and extended through rings, J-l, on the post, 29, around the pulleys, 35, at the base of the post, around the pulleys, '36, at the base of the post, 28, and upwardly to the trigger, 27. The cable, 32, extends around a pulley, 37, in the top or" the post, 28, and thence downwardly to the trigger, 27, while the cable, extends directly upward to the trigger, 27, as shown. It will be seen that when the arm, 30, raises, the cable, 33, will draw the trigger downwardly to inoperative position, and that when the arm, 31, is raised, the cable, 32, will draw the trigger to the position shown in Fig. 1.

In reference to the structure described for supporting the shaft, 21, it may be said that the very substantial construction shown is necessary for the reason that the pressure against the lever, 26, when the train is go ing any rate of speed, will be considerable, and it is necessary that the shaft, 21, be held verysecurely in order that the parts may not be damaged thereby.

Vv'hen the lever, 26, has been turned so as to open the valve, it will enter the slot, 38, in the plate, 39, fixed to the under side of the bracket, B, raising the dog, 10, as it does so. When it has reached the end of the slot, the dog, 10, will drop into place so as to'prevent it returning. The lip, ll, supports the dog, d0, in its down position. it will be seen that it means were not provided for locking the lever in the position wherein the valve is opened, the stopping of the train would cause the lever, by its inertia, to swing back so as to close the valve.

In order that the valve may be locked in closed position normally, we provide the following means. On the lever, 21%, is an upwardly projecting lug, On the under side of the bracket, B, is a corresponding lug, 43. In each of the lugs, 42 and there is a slot through which a 3; strip, 4 1, is adapted to be passed tor lo the lugs together; The seal, 14-, may be the ordinary type o't' seal used for lot k doors and the like, and is sealed in place by means or the solder head, 4-5. Each ot the seals bears a number, as indicated H3.

seal

The seals, st-l, will be carried in a convenient receptacle in the engineers cab, and each time that the mechanism has been ac uated a new seal must be used to lock the lever, 26, in closed position. It wil thus be seen that by recording the seals, it, it will be possible to check up on the number of times a train has proceeded through a block.

In order to protect the trigger, 27, a cap, 17, is provided for the top of the post, 28. The trigger, 27, extends through a slot, 18, in the cap.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of our invention without departing from the real spirit and purpose of our invention, and it is our intention to cover by our claims any modified forms of structure or use 01 mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their sco )e.

Vi e claim as our invention:

1. In combination with a locomotive having a cab, an air brake system, an auxiliary release valve connected with said brake system and disposed within the cab, an actuating shaft operatively connected with said valve and extending through the cab, means to support said shaft, including spaced brackets provided with openings to receive said shaft, friction plates secured to the brackets by means capable of adjusting the plates toward the brackets, said plates being provided with openings to register with the openings in the brackets, friction pins sccured in the shaft and engaged between the respective plates and brackets, the shaft being provided with a crank lever extending beyond the cab and adapted to be actuated by contact with a member external ot the locomotive, elements fixed to the bracket and crank lever, respectively, adapted to register and receive a sealing strip when the valve is closed, and a sealing strip connecting said elements and adapted to be broke when the crank lever is moved.

2. In combination with a railway track, a locomotive having an air brake system adapted to travel thereon, and a block nal semaphore having a base and two arms adapted to move tromrespective horizontal and vertical positions to respective vertical and horizontal positions and vice versa, an

auxiliary release valve connected with the air brake system, a vertically disposed actuating shaft operatively connected with said release valve, rotatably supported on the 10- coinotive, and having a horizontally disposed crank arm extending away from the locomotive, a post mounted adjacent the tracks, a trigger pivoted on the post, a pulley on the post above the trigger, pulleys on the post below the trigger, pulleys on the base of the semaphore, cables fastened to the respective arms of the semaphore and extending around the pulleys on the base of the semaphore and on the post below the trigger one of the cables extending upwardly and secured to the trigger and the other cable extending upwardly, aroundthe upper pulley on the post, and downwardly and secured to the trigger, the parts being so 7 arranged that movement of a semaphore arm to a position indicating the block signal, will move the trigger into position to engage the crank lever, and a housing encasing the cables, extending from the semaphore to the post.

Signed at Sioux City, in the county oi WVoodbury and State of Iowa, this 31 day of March, 19%.

ED'WARD lV. BOULDEN. CHARLES J. COW LES. 

